My living room, 8.53 pm. I’m sitting back on my couch with my feet up, watching Who Do You Think You Are, when I feel movement. “Hmmm… earthquake…” I stayed put, figuring it would be over in a few seconds. Earth tremors in Australia are fairly rare, and those that cause damage are even rarer.

This one seemed to go on and on, though. “Okay, that’s enough. You can stop now,” I said, as I took a firmer hold on the couch. It was getting a bit scary. Even after the initial tremor things kept moving for a couple of minutes.

The earthquake (green marker on the map) originated near Trafalgar and Moe, in Gippsland, eastern Victoria, not far from Darnum, where I grew up (about 18km west along the Princes Highway).

I now live about 120km from the epicentre, and given the way my home shook I’m glad I wasn’t back on the farm. My sister still lives in that area and she thought she was going to be tipped out of her armchair.

The tremor has been rated at 5.2 by the US Geological Survey, and was minor compared to the quakes suffered by people in other parts of the world (although it was apparently the biggest to hit Victoria in more than a hundred years). Because earthquakes are so rare here it will be a major talking point for a day or two.

The New Zealand Herald reported on May 25, “Christchurch was hit by its largest earthquake in recent weeks this afternoon, with a 5.2-magnitude shake…” Between September 2010 and December 2011 Christchurch experienced four earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more. There were another 21 of magnitude 5.2 or more! See Christchurch Quake Map for details.

The twinge of fear I felt when tonight’s tremor continued for 30 or 40 seconds (much longer than the previous one a couple of years ago which was over almost before it began) makes me wonder even more how people who live in earthquake-prone regions cope. I can’t imagine what the people of Christchurch go through each time the ground begins to shake yet again.

Australia really is blessed when it comes to natural events that cause loss of life and property damage. We do have them – cyclones, fires and floods (and two earthquakes in my lifetime that caused fairly widespread damage) – but not on the scale and the frequency other areas of the world have.

“It could only happen in the United States” is a sentiment that people in other countries often express, usually accompanied with a shaking of the head. Germany too? Surely not! The Germans are way too sensible to do bizarre.

In the last week a severe cold front has caused havoc in Europe, and the death toll is mounting (it’s up to 220 at the time of writing this) as people succumb to the freezing temperatures. The thermometer dropped to minus 38°C in the Czech Republic one night.

The tragedy has been in the news a lot, with each report seeming to bring worse news.

The bizarre popped up a couple of days ago in the midst of all the chaos. The US and Germany are apparently the only two countries in the world that allow sponsorship of weather events. In a publicity stunt intended to show that the Mini Cooper is really cool, BMW in Germany decided to sponsor a cold front… as it happened, the one that’s now been responsible for so many deaths. They named it Cooper. Adding its own touch of the bizarre, The Age reported Mini stunt goes horribly wrong as if the sponsorship was somehow responsible for the severity of the weather. I guess they meant it went horribly wrong for BMW. In a more balanced article (if you’ll excuse their poor-taste pun) they filled in some detail: ‘Cooper’ weather in Europe leaves BMW in the cold.

In identically named articles SBS and The Age detail the tragedy of the extreme weather.

The Boston Globe, in its The Big Picture section, kind of combines the human tragedy and the natural beauty of a winter landscape in Extreme cold weather hits Europe. There are some beautiful scenes of snow and ice, but the human face of the disaster is shown, too, with a series of photos of homeless people coping with the weather.

Well, I always figured there were penguins and that was about it. Much to my surprise I find that there’s an abundance of fish and plant life under the ice. I just had no idea. It’s also interesting to see the underside of the ice and the way the light shines through and plays on everything underneath.

Watch for the quick reaction of the little fish at 1:30! Hmmm… lunch.

Henry Kaiser is a guitarist and research diver. He made this video while diving under the ice at McMurdo Station. He also plays guitar on the backing track.

Henry also shot a good film of life at McMurdo. It begins with the landing of a plane on the ice runway on the Ross Sea. I was sure it was going to flatten the camera. And as it lands the wings are flexing so much you’d reckon something would break. Oh, and the fact that there’s water under the runway… well, count me out!

As if diving under ice wasn’t enough, the McMurdo diving supervisor (also a guitarist) takes Henry’s guitar on a dive and plays it underwater – all the time being filmed by Henry, of course: Ice Diving Guitar in Antarctica.

This dramatic rescue, captured by wildlife photographer Jean-François Lagrot, took place in Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya. Despite their protected status in the park, day-to-day life for lions is not without its dangers … as this cub learned the hard way.

A friend sent me an email which included most of the photos shown here, as well as commentary on what was happening in them. Information junkie that I am, I decided to try find the story’s origin and some information about the photographer. I found the story on several news sites and numerous blogs, but had trouble tracking down the photographer until I realised that most of the websites (and some of the watermarked photos) had his name wrong.

The story seems to have first come to light on September 26 2011, although one article said it took place in August. The spot where the cub fell is variously described as a cliff, a ravine, and a river gully, and some writers waxed lyrical in their telling of the story. The photos are displayed here in the order used by Zambezi Safaris Blog (where the writer took a more circumspect approach).

The Photos

Mother deliberates from the top of the river bank whilst the cub calls for help and hangs on tightThings are looking dicey as the mother tries to get down to the stricken cubShe retreats temporarily while the cub hangs on in quiet desperationAunts and an uncle look on as the mother prepares for another attemptThe lioness is nearly there but the cub's seriously rattled nowThe cub loses his grip, but mum lunges and
snatches him by the scruff of his neck!With the cub safe she beats a powerful and hasty retreat up to safetyNow, if she could speak what would this lioness be saying?

The Photographer

Jean-François and Isabelle Lagrot are veterinary surgeons, conservationists and photographers with a passion for rare and endangered species. They have travelled the world in search of these, and have published a number of books documenting their work.